seam finishes

claireshaeffer

claireshaeffer

VFG Member
I needed a pillow case to cover a suede suit--the color often rubs off on other garments.

I found an old pillowcase--50s, maybe 40s. The pillow case is badly worn with several holes but the handmade crochet edge is undamaged so I haven't discarded it.

When I ripped the seam to fit over the hanger, I was surprised to find a serged seam with a separate seam.

The pillowcase is percale so it wasn't cheap at the outset. Even as late as the sixties, this seam was only used on inexpensive and utilitarian garments.

Since seam finishes are a way to date garments, what are your observations.
C
 
was it three or four thread serging? Three thread will bind an edge but is not strong enough for a seam, so would need a seperate line of stitching to form the seam. I would argue this is a more expensive finish as it requires sewing the same edge twice, as opposed to a four thread overlocked edge which is a quicker/cheaper way of forming the seam and binding all in one go.
 
I have been keeping my eye out of early uses of serging and so far the earliest I have found is c 19o9, on a white cotton lace insert dress (it makes sense since the lace has no strength to hold a traditional seam. My understanding is that sergers were developed primarily for making knitted garments industrially - it was faster to cut and serge than to cast off.
 
Jonathan,
The serger was invented in 1881 by the Merrow Machine Co. Today the narrow edging on napkins and scarves is called a merrow stitch.
Melanie, Merrow owned a knitting mill.
The industry term for a serger is overedger.
The two-thread stitch is used on men's trousers because it's less likely to show than the 3-thread stitch which is used on most women's garments.

There is a safety-stitch machine which overlocks with 3 threads and makes a chain stitch with 2. It looks like a lockstitch on the right side.
There is a mock-safety stitch which stitches the seam and overlocks the edges at the same time. The line drawings are from Sewing for the Apparel Industry.

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Now I have to confess that I put my glasses on and went back to my pillow case. It only has a 3-thread overlock--no seam. I looked at another pillow case which has selvages on one long edge and just a straight stitch . The end had a 3-thread overlock.
 
Thank you, Claire, for your information. Questions about serging come up from time to time on the forum. It is great to have your authoritative post.
Marian
 
I'd really like to start a collection of dated serging examples for reference. (we actually only call it overlocking here in the UK)
Many of my St Michael (Marks and Spencer) garments can be dated to the year and month by the label, so I can collect quite a few british examples at least. We could start by posting them here?
 
Melanie,
Overlock is used a lot in manufacturing. Home-sewers generally use serging. I'm not sure why.
The first home sergers were mid-70s. We moved to CA in 1974 and I bought a Baby-Lock shortly after. I included a brief paragraph about them in my first sewing book--pub. 1981. C
 
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